HEN, I

[favor].

Son of a certain Zephaniah (not the prophet); one who returned from captivity in Babylon. He is mentioned in connection with the grand crown that was to be placed on the head of Joshua the high priest and which would afterward come to belong to Hen and three others as a memorial in the temple of Jehovah.—Zech. 6:11, 14.

Likely Hen is to be identified with the Josiah mentioned in Zechariah 6:10. The name “Hen” has been variously regarded as (1) a proper name, (2) an abbreviation or corruption of the name Josiah, and (3) a common noun. In the Syriac the name Josiah appears in both Zechariah 6:10 and 6:14, as it does in various modern translations. (AT, Mo, La) While “to Hen the son of Zephaniah” is found in the main text of Zechariah 6:14 in the American Standard Version, an alternate reading is given in a footnote, which says: “Or, for the kindness of the son [of Zephaniah].” The rendering “Hen,” as found in the New World Translation and others, is based on the Masoretic text.